Thursday, January 1, 2009

To Health and Wealth!

In the South, we celebrate New Year's Day with black-eyed peas (to ensure health in the new year) and cabbage (for prosperity). My Granny always fixes a big dinner of the traditional foods, but she also makes hog jowl (some nasty pork product that looks like really fat bacon). I used to dine with my family on New Year's Day, but for the past several years, I've stayed at home and made my own traditional foods.

Today, I took the opportunity to develop a new recipe for my cookbook. It may not be that pretty, but here's my Hoppin' John Veggie Sausage Bowl:

Instead of serving cabbage on the side (as is customary), I boiled the cabbage with my black-eyed peas and tomatoes. I also threw in some veggie sausage chunks for added flavor. Served over brown rice, this one-pot dish was wholesome and yummy. And hopefully, I'll stay healthy and get wealthy (fingers crossed) in 2009.

Some Hoppin John trivia: According to , Wikipedia leftover Hoppin' John eaten the day after New Year's Day is called Skippin' Jenny. So I'll be having Skippin' Jenny for tomorrow's lunch.

Happy New Year Bianca!I was excited to make black eyed peas this year, but as it is, I've had a super rotten cold for about 4 days, and have been eating nothing but oranges and ramen and soup. Oh well! Good thing I'm not superstitious.